FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/MA
CONTACT:CHRISTINA DiIORIO-STERLING
PHONE: (617) 748-3356 CHRISTINA.STERLING@USDOJ.GOV
PRESS RELEASE
P.A. LANDERS, INC. AND COMPANY PRINCIPALS FOUND GUILTY
OF DEFRAUDING THE COMMONWEALTH ON PAVING PROJECTS
Boston, MA...A federal Jury returned a guilty verdict against a Plymouth road construction company and two of its principals with conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and several of its municipalities by generating fake and inflated asphalt weight tickets on government-funded paving projects.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Theodore L. Doherty, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Transportation, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigations, and Douglas A. Bricker, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Boston Field Office, announced today that P.A. LANDERS, INC., PRESTON A. LANDERS, age 56, of Hanover, Massachusetts, and GREGORY R. KEELAN, age 49, of Pembroke, Massachusetts, were found guilty of Conspiring to Defraud the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and several of its municipalities, and Using the Mails to Defraud the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Several of its Municipalities.
From 1996 through at least March, 2003, the defendants generated fake and inflated asphalt weight tickets on government-funded paving projects on which P.A. LANDERS, INC. worked. Shortly after the company built its asphalt production plant in Plymouth in 1995, LANDERS, President of the company, ordered that a manual override device be installed in the plant’s computer control room. Additionally, at the direction of LANDERS and KEELAN, company employees used that override device to generate fake asphalt weight tickets, which did not correspond to any actual asphalt load, as well as inflated asphalt weight tickets, which overstated the amount of asphalt contained in an actual load.
“It is critically important that public works projects be performed in accordance with contract requirements so that the public may have confidence that their tax dollars are being spent wisely," said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan. “Today’s verdict should send a clear message that we will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute cases like this to protect the integrity of taxpayer funded government programs, and to ensure that the public gets what it pays for."
LANDERS and KEELAN each face up to 20 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. P.A. LANDERS, INC. faces a maximum fine of up to two times the determined loss and restitution. Additionally, the company could also be debarred from obtaining contracts on future government-funded public works projects.
The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation with assistance from the Massachusetts Highway Department. The U.S. Attorney’s Office would like to especially thank the Massachusetts Highway Department for its assistance and support during this investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney George B. Henderson, II in Sullivan’s Civil Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney George W. Vien, in Sullivan’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit.
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